E N G L I S H

Thomas Richards (1709–1790)


Fel John Walters yntau, brodor o sir Gaerfyrddin oedd Thomas Richards yr offeiriad a'r geiriadurwr. Symudodd i Forgannwg ym 1737 ac ym 1738 cafodd guradaeth Llangrallo. Addasiad o Dictionarium Duplex (1632) John Davies yw ei eiriadur Antiquae Linguae Britannicae Thesaurus (1753). Ymddengys iddo ddibynnu ar lawysgrifau rhai o'r Gramadegyddion megis John Bradford wrth lunio ei eiriadur. Pleidiai Richards y drefn Brotestannaidd a chyfansoddiadol, ac ym 1746 cyhoeddodd y gyfrol Creulonderau ac Herlidigaethau Eglwys Rufain Gwedi eu Tannu ar led (1746), sef cyfieithiad o lyfr Philip Morant, The Cruelties and Persecutions of the Romish Church Displayed. Yr oedd ganddo gysylltiadau â'r Cymmrodorion a chafodd gefnogaeth Richard a William Morris i gyhoeddi ei eiriadur. Eto i gyd, ysgornllyd iawn oedd agwedd y Morrisiaid tuag ato ef a'i lafur, yn bennaf oherwydd iddo gynnwys geiriau tafodieithol o Forgannwg yn ei eiriadur: 'what has Glam. words to do with Welsh?' meddai Goronwy Owen wrth Richard Morris, 'I had rather he had made use of any Gibberish, and authoriz'd with a Hottentoticê' (J. H. Davies (gol.), The Letters of Goronwy Owen (1723–1769), (Cardiff, 1924), t. 68). Yr oedd Thomas Richards, fel John Walters, yn ddylanwad ffurfiannol pwysig ar ddatblygiad syniadau Iolo ynghylch iaith. Perchid ef yn fawr gan Iolo ac ofnai na chawsai glod haeddiannol am ei gymwynas i'r genedl:

To the Late Reverend Thomas Richards, my greatly respected and highly honoured friend and instructor, a large portion of gratitude and praise is due from the Welsh Literati. He translated the Latin of the Grammar & Dictionary of Dr Davies into English. The greatest honour that we can afford to our subsequent grammarians and Lexicographers is to pass them over in silence, who are now standing on the brink of oblivion. one foot over, the ground just breaking in under the others to let them down into the bottomless gulph. therein to sink deeper and deeper to all eternity. (LlGC 13131A, t. 257)


Honnodd Iolo mai o lawysgrifau Thomas Richards y copïodd rai o'i ffugiadau mwyaf beiddgar: 'Brut Aberpergwm', 'Gramadeg' barddol Edeyrn Dafod Aur, a chynghorion ynghylch trin tir a briodolir i Walter Map.

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